Recently, I was thinking of something someone said about a well-known prosperity Bible teacher, and how that this teacher had helped them more than anyone else ever had.

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So much so that this person bought several of the teacher’s books and other materials, and had come to rely upon them as their primary source for truth and inspiration.

You probably know someone like this, don’t you?

Now, I don’t know about you, but this concerns me. It just doesn’t compute with me that someone who professes Christ as their Savior will seek truth, hope, and inspiration apart from God’s Word.

This is not to say that there aren’t many wonderful “helps” out there, because there are. God has equipped the body of Christ with many exemplary teachers who have not departed from the Word unto “another gospel”,which is exactly what the prosperity gospel is. Scripture reference Galatians 1:6-9

There is nothing wrong with seeking input from those more knowledgeable than ourselves. That’s how we learn after all. There is something very wrong however when we place the greater emphasis upon man’s opinion and interpretation, rather than seeking understanding from our Lord.

Some will argue of course that there are many “truths”, just as many say there is good in all religions. For the record, “good” isn’t good enough, just as half-truths aren’t really Truth.

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There is obviously no shortage of choices today no matter what it is you’re looking for, as all of us are inundated with voices claiming to have the answers, to know the way, to have unlocked the truth.

Sadly, the world is largely ignorant of real Truth, because they reject its Author. Just listen to Jesus defining Truth:

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth”. John 17:17

Wow! No long dissertation on the various aspects of truth. No comparison tables or charts for our viewing pleasure to help us decide what is truth.

Just a simple proclamation by the Son of God: God’s Word is Truth.

This creates a potential dilemma for us all, saint and sinner alike.

For those who have rejected God and His Truth, you have no place else to turn to. Oh sure, there are a great many voices from which you can choose, but they all lead to the same conclusion: they may contain an element of truth, they are not Truth.

The Christian also faces a dilemma with what to do with this statement from Jesus. Foremost is if you are like the person I talked about at the beginning of this post, how do you reconcile in your heart the fact that you draw more inspiration from the teachings of men than the Word of God?

We are taught in 1st Thessalonians 2:13 that the Word of God is working in us who believe.

“For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe”.

If we choose as our primary source of hope, inspiration, guidance, etc..one of the countless volumes from the Christian book store, or order a book from your favorite TV preacher, what does this say about our relationship with Christ and the Word?

Is it not working in us?

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If not, why not?

What’s missing?

Or maybe the root of the problem lies with our churches that have abandoned the Word of God and replaced it with a feel good cultural,social gospel.

Perhaps the real reason we are seeking truth and inspiration outside of the Word of God is simply because we are so malnourished, sitting on the pew.

We live in a world where speed is of the essence. All of us are impatient and want what we want-when we want it-which is usually immediately.

Sound familiar?

When it comes to the process of shaping and molding us into the child of God that we are destined to become however, speed does not appear to command a position of priority with the Lord.

At least where I am concerned, He doesn’t seem to be rushing the work along. Maybe you feel the same way? It would seem then that by all accounts, God has his own timetable when it comes to the work he is doing in us.

Christianity 101 says that all of us are on a journey with Christ. On this journey are mountain top experiences, below sea level valleys, incredible growth spurts, times when we seem to be mired in quicksand, and dare I say, a time or two in God’s woodshed.

All of this is just part of the refining process being wrought in us, a process intended to remove the impurities and replace them with more of Him.

The Bible is filled with accounts of ordinary people like you and I going through this process. One of the best examples of this is found in Acts chapter seven, where Stephen is recalling the story of Moses being exiled to the wilderness where he would eventually receive the call of God.

To save space here, I’ll leave it to you to read Acts 7:23-30 for yourself. The key takeaway that I want to impress upon you from these verses is that Moses was 40 years old when he was exiled to the Midian desert.

He was 80 years old when God sent him back to Egypt to deliver the people of Israel from bondage.

This means that Moses spent 40 years on the back side of the Midian desert before God called him out. I don’t care who you are, that’s a long time to wait!

What do you think was happening during those 40 years? Well, we know that he had a wife and two sons, and we know that he worked for his father in law. But what about Moses, the future leader of Israel, what was happening to the man?

Here’s what I believed happened to the man Moses. I think God went to work on him, and it took God all 40 years to get Egypt out of Moses!

Remember, Moses was raised in luxury and privilege in Pharaoh’s household until he was 40 years of age. It’s only natural to think that during those years he had become accustomed to the finer things in life. I know I would!

What a stark contrast to go from Pharaoh’s household to a burning desert!

During those long years in isolation, Moses was no doubt subjected to countless hardships, hardships he was not accustomed to.

Brokenness, Humility, and Solitude became the new way of life for Moses, and I have no doubt that this was very painful for him to endure.

Ah, but you see, even Moses had to go through the refining process.

And the process could not be rushed.

Just like the process you’re going through cannot be rushed.

The process by which Moses was transformed into a mighty servant of God was not without pain and sacrifice. It came with a great price to him, requiring him to forsake all that he once held dear to his heart.

Sometimes this is what God requires of us, to sell out completely to Him. Maybe this is you at this moment?

You see, God had another plan for Moses life, one he could not begin to imagine.

Consider this thought: God spent 40 years getting Egypt out of Moses, only to send him right back there with an assignment that no one could have seen coming.

I mean seriously, who but God could do such a thing?

To Moses, 40 years must have seemed to be an eternity. To us, 40 days seems like an eternity, but when God is in the works He will sustain our strength and equip us for the task ahead.

I want to encourage all of you who may be on the Potter’s wheel or passing through the Refiners fire to be patient and wait upon the Lord.

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Life would be pretty boring if we just sat around and became a lump of nothingness, don’t you think?

As Christians however, we must learn to temper our searching, looking, and wandering by prioritizing and aligning the things we deem so important against God’s Word. Paul explains it here in Colossians 3:1-3.

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God”.‬‬

Does this now mean that because I’m a Christian that I can no longer be passionate about my favorite cause? Of course not! If God’s children don’t participate in this earthly life, if we’re too Holy to get our hands dirty while ministering to others, of what value are we?

You no doubt have heard the expression that we can become “too Heavenly minded to be of any earthly good”. Speaking only for myself, I have yet to meet the person who accurately meets this description! Seriously, if any person becomes as Heavenly minded as Paul describes above, they would do more earthly good than they could ever imagine!

What Paul is saying to us is that as Christ’s representatives on earth we should be involved in what’s going on around us. We should care deeply about the plight of others. If not us, then who will?

But our first priority must be Him. If we will make Him our first priority, if He becomes the focus of our passions, our care and concern for others will be greatly enhanced.

You see, it’s only by seeking those things that are above, that we are then able to effectively reach out to those around us. Or to put it another way, before we can pour into others, we must first be filled ourselves. And we get filled by seeking those things which are above.

I think all of us would agree that we need more of Him at work in our lives. I know I certainly have enough rough edges to keep Him busy for a while! As we endeavor to seek those things that are above, we begin to die to self a bit more each day. Those rough edges become smoother, even our attitudes are improved.

Seeking those things that are above transforms our wants and desires into His wants and desires. When we seek to become more Heavenly minded we become more like Jesus. We love like Jesus. We have compassion like Jesus. The world can then see Jesus through us.

Nearly everyone loves to receive an invitation to a special event. Whether it’s a family reunion, a Christmas party, or perhaps a wedding, these invitations are normally met with a high level of excitement and anticipation upon receiving them.

Of all the different types of invitations, it seems as though weddings rank at the top of the list. For some, it’s the romance that makes the day so special. For others, it’s all about seeing old friends and the opportunity to catch up on each others lives.

For a lot of people it’s all about the Big Event, especially those who are still dreaming of having their own wedding one day. Ladies especially are fascinated by weddings, and the bigger the better. Who can forget the grandeur of the royal wedding of Princess Diana for example?

Speaking of weddings, did you know that there is soon going to be a wedding the likes of which this world has never seen, one that YOU have been given a very special invitation to? Did you know that? Well, it’s true!

Amazingly, as “over the top” as the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana was, it pales in comparison to the upcoming wedding known as “The Marriage Supper of The Lamb”.

Best of all, you’ve already been sent an engraved invitation!

You see, nearly 2000 years ago, your invitation was engraved in the hands and feet of Jesus. Cruel Roman nails left their scars, evidence for all to see that He was indeed the risen, crucified Christ. An engraving unmatched by anything the greatest artist or sculptor could ever envision.

And here is why all of that matters.

One day, all this hurting will be over. The day is soon coming when child abuse will be a forgotten horror never to be heard from again. As impossible as it may seem, the day is coming when hunger pangs will never again be felt in a little child’s belly.

Diseases of the most hideous kind will no longer have a hold on our bodies, as the day is soon to come when all sickness will disappear. Those who languish in torment and pain will one day be freed from their chains of misery.

How can this be, you ask? Listen to the words of hope and encouragement recorded by the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation when he was in exile on the island of Patmos.

‘Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” ‘ Revelation 19:6-9

“Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb”. Jesus bids all to come to this marriage supper. The invitation containing the nail prints of His hands has been sent out to all of humanity.

Yes, you have been sent an invitation, for Jesus leaves no one off of His guest list.

Today, you have a decision to make. The invitation that Jesus has sent demands a response.

Recently, I happened upon an online discussion about abortion. A key hot button of the discussion was that several of the more conservative participants kept referring to abortion as murder, while those from a more liberal perspective felt that using such a strong word demonstrated a lack of wisdom and compassion.

It didn’t take long before the gloves came off and the participants seemed to forget that they were on a Christian site. In short order, it got ugly. Real ugly. Words were said that certainly did not reflect the love of Christ. Feelings were hurt, and in the end nothing changed except for the fact that yet another wedge was driven between brothers and sisters in Christ.

All of which left me wondering about something. Do we not understand that the enemy excels at getting us to focus more on the things that divide us, rather than the things that bind us together? It seems that we Christians are so naive and gullible that we take the bait and swallow it before we ever have the first inkling as to what Satan is up to!

Am I the only person who thinks this way? Are the differences between us so insurmountable that even Jesus cannot bridge the gap?

Abortion has been one of the tools that Satan uses to cause division in the Church ever since it became the law of the land. Of course, he has many other tools at his disposal, but because abortion is one of those topics that people on both sides of the fence are incredibly opinionated about, it’s easy for the enemy to use it to sow discord among the brethren.

Whether you agree with abortion or not isn’t really the issue any longer. I don’t agree with it, nor do I believe it is a “right”, but then again I (unapologetically) tend to look at life through the lens of Scripture. This puts me at odds with a great many things taking place in our world today, not just abortion.

Obviously, many people, and that includes Christians, would object to my rather simplistic approach to this subject, and I have no problem with that. I happen to believe that God’s family is much larger than some of us believe it to be, and as such there is plenty of room for Christians who believe differently than I do. Insert 😊

Therefore, knowing that abortion is here to stay, is our best course of action to berate and condemn those who have an abortion, or has God called us to a higher purpose? Are we to continue down the path of division, or should we be seeking God for wisdom in how best to minister to those affected by abortion?

How would Jesus respond to the divisive issue of abortion? And of even greater importance, what would be His response to those who have had an abortion? I believe we can get a glimpse into how He would approach the subject by recalling His interaction with the woman who was caught in the act of adultery. Scripture reference John 8:3-11

As the story goes, a group of men brought a woman to Jesus who had been caught in the very act of adultery. According to the Law, she was to be stoned to death. They were hoping however that Jesus would do something contrary to the Law so that they might have an accusation against him, thus giving the religious rulers just cause to eradicate him.

The story takes a very unexpected turn however when Jesus looks at the woman’s accusers and says to them “he that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone”. Their arrogant hearts condemned, as none of them were without sin; one by one they walk away. Can’t you just hear the stones dropping to the ground?

Jesus then looks to the woman and asks where her accusers are, to which she responds that there are none. Jesus then uttered what had to be the most gracious words this woman had ever heard. Deserving of death for her sins, Jesus tells her that neither does he condemn her, and to go and sin no more. Emphasis mine

This is how I see Jesus responding to the abortion issue. Notice that Jesus did not excuse the adulterous woman’s sins, but rather he acknowledged them for what they were, yet offered forgiveness instead of condemnation.

Jesus was much more concerned with forgiveness than punishment. Do you know why that was? It was because Jesus came to reconcile people to God. He could have delivered this woman to be stoned, but instead He offered her reconciliation! How amazing is that?

All of us have done things worthy of punishment, or worse. Some of us, like the adulterous woman, have committed sins worthy of death. Yet God, through His Son Jesus Christ, has chosen instead to forgive our sins and offer to us the gift of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Does this give us a “free pass” so that we can do whatever we want to do without consequence? Of course not. No one gets a free pass. We must repent of our sin and turn to Jesus.

‘‘He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation”. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19. ESV

The Church has been entrusted with this message of reconciliation. We were not entrusted with a hammer of condemnation. Neither were we entrusted with the gavel of judgement.

Our ministry, our very purpose, is to extend mercy and reconciliation to a lost world that gropes in darkness. We can serve no higher purpose here on earth than to represent Jesus Christ in meekness and love to those left devastated and wounded by the poor choices they have made.

That we have made.

This world doesn’t need another argument for or against abortion. It needs the people of God to stand in the gap and offer comfort and hope to those who are struggling with issues that are bigger than they are. The world needs to see Jesus.

I’ve been thinking about an event recorded early on in the book of Genesis, one that took place thousands of years ago, yet still has implications for us today.

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is one that most people are familiar with, or have at least heard something about. It’s a story of both destruction and deliverance, one where the central theme is God’s willingness to forgo righteous judgment if only a few God fearing people can be found.

As the story goes, the search for righteous citizens is futile, thus God orders the complete destruction of the cities by raining down fire and brimstone. Not a pretty thought, to be sure. The only escapees are Abraham and his wife, his nephew Lot and his wife, and their two daughters.

As they are running for their lives, the angels who delivered them warned them not to look back. Unfortunately for Lot’s wife, she could not resist the temptation to do just that. Here is the high price she paid for her disobedience:

“But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” Genesis 19:26

This story is now thousands of years old, yet the central truths of it still ring true today. God is still a righteous, loving, and forgiving God. And man is still prone to looking in the rear view mirror instead of looking ahead.

Lot’s wife looked back because she wanted to see what was happening to her former home. She felt an emotional attachment to the city, so much so that she disregarded the clear warning of the angels who had been sent to rescue her.

Aren’t all of us guilty to some degree of doing the same thing? Instead of “forgetting those things which are behind and pressing toward the mark” (Philippians 3:14)….we are drawn back to familiar territory. We gravitate toward the known and comfortable, and resist the unknown in front of us.

The familiar is a powerful force in our lives, and I dare say all of us enjoy the comfort we receive from being surrounded by the familiar things we have accumulated.

The flip side of this however is that the familiar can also become a huge burden that wears us down as we endeavor to journey onward with Christ.

This burden is always present to remind us that we don’t really need to press on into uncharted territory, not when we can stay here in the relative calm waters of familiarity. Besides, there is a certain element of fear when dealing with the unknown, and we all know how we feel about that!

In spit of these things, there is a very real danger in allowing the familiar to rock us to sleep. If we choose to permit this, we risk missing the greatest adventure we could ever partake of!

This Great Adventure is going to be the primary emphasis of “A Front Row View of the Church” in 2018. I will be sharing from the word of God how that the words of Jesus in John 10:10 “…... I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”, are the key to unlocking this Great Adventure.

I am excited about what God has in store, and trust you will be encouraged to put yourself out there, where The Great Adventure beckons!

Lately however, I’ve come to understand that what we observe on Black Friday is really just a microcosm of our society as a whole. Greed, selfishness, a lack of restraint, all are hallmarks of a people far from God.

I know, I know, that was a real downer wasn’t it? Bah Humbug!!

The truth is though, the Bible actually foretold this type of behavior would come.

‘For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ‘ 2 Timothy 3:2-4 ESV

Does this sound like anyone you know? Does this sound like…gulp…you? I sure hope not!

This is the world we have created, and now must deal with. There’s nothing new about that, except that it gets worse every year. There is no Christ in Xmas, just as Black Friday has nothing to do with Christmas. No surprise there.

At least with the advent of online shopping we can avoid getting steamrollered by the impatient hordes who have waited for hours and sometimes days for the opportunity to be the first to bust through the doors. Of course, even with online shopping there are those pesky “Porch Pirates” to look out for!

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If you’re headed out this Friday, stay safe and by all means stay out of harms way.

Oh, and if by chance it would cross your mind, there really was a baby Jesus born in a manger in Bethlehem.